


Heathers Exchange - Interview with JD at the Local Coffee Shop

by DA_Dart



Category: Heathers: The Musical - Murphy & O'Keefe
Genre: Darkest Timeline, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-25
Updated: 2017-09-25
Packaged: 2019-01-05 03:31:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,221
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12182061
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DA_Dart/pseuds/DA_Dart
Summary: It was widely believed that Veronica Sawyer planted the bombs that killed over eight hundred people, mostly children, at Westerburg High School, but, however, this was not so. Jason Dean, aged 35, newly a lawyer hoping to fight against tyranny legally, having completely succeeded as a teenager, is interviewed about his position as a witness.TL;DR: JD gives his thoughts on a teenage crush and the horrors that he witnessed as one of the few survivors of that horrific massacre he absolutely had no part in in 1989.





	Heathers Exchange - Interview with JD at the Local Coffee Shop

**Author's Note:**

  * For [RiverDelta](https://archiveofourown.org/users/RiverDelta/gifts).



The first thing JD woke up to was about five missed calls and three email notifications on his phone; all of which he didn’t recognize. By the looks of it, they were from local news companies. Ugh. News. JD hated the news. It only ever said the worst things about what was happening. So much drama. Apparently, him becoming a lawyer was all over the media. People recognized his name from the Sherwood investigations that happened 17 years ago and realized he was still alive, and now the news is asking for his view on what happened.  
The case happened 17 years ago, but it was never solved. There weren’t many witnesses except for some parents, but they didn’t know much except the names of kids and some relationships. What people assumed happened was that someone, presumably Veronica Sawyer, was done with school and decided to get rid of it. The only evidence as to why it happened was a note left outside the school, which read:  
“We, the students of Westerburg High, will die. Our burnt bodies may finally get through to you. Your society churns out slaves and blanks, no thanks. Signed, the students of Westerburg High. Goodbye.”  
It was made to look like a suicide, but then, upon investigation the parents of Veronica Sawyer reported that she had hung herself that night, from ‘too much guilt’. She was the only one found alive after the explosion, so everyone assumed it was her. But they couldn’t find enough evidence and eventually dropped the case.  
As much as he didn’t want to go to an interview, he knew he had to. It’d ruin his career before he even started it if he didn’t interact with the public. Lawyers these days are all about that. Which one would he pick, though? He was relatively new to this area. He and his dad had left Sherwood after the school blew up, and moved to northern Ohio instead; from there, JD went to college and worked on becoming a lawyer. JD could just pick a random one. Although, what if they ended up being shitty; cornering him into answering questions he didn’t want to answer? All of them would probably do that, but some might be worse than others. He just had to be careful. He had to research. God, he hated research.  
\--  
JD ended up choosing the smallest and lesser-known news company. Then, if he somehow got tricked into saying something he didn’t want to get out to the public, less people would see. While driving to the news station, the whole ordeal ended up giving him flashbacks of memories he’d rather forget.  
Veronica, The Heathers, Ram, Kurt. He might have PTSD. Just maybe. But could anyone blame him? High school sucked, especially in a place like Westerburg High. It was a place where everything was underfunded and no one gave a shit, not even the principal. To this day he still wondered whether Veronica loved him or not. Did she ever care about him? At first, she did, but that was when she was drunk. They had hardly known each other for a few days when Heather Chandler died. JD didn’t mind admitting it to himself. Yes, he did kill Heather, Ram, and Kurt. They deserved it. Of course, he’d never tell the interviewer that. If he were to get arrested, what would he be able to accomplish?  
As he pulled up to the parking lot his mind was still racing with Veronica. Over the 17 years since he’d lost her he could never forget her. Even if she never loved him, JD would always love her. He risked everything for her. Everything. And then she killed herself because of a little guilt. His hands clenched as he focused on walking. He couldn’t get all emotional; not yet, anyway. Maybe if he began crying during the interview they’d let him leave.  
\--  
“Greetings, Mr. Dean.”  
JD shuddered as he heard his last name. Seventeen years and he still couldn’t change it. He just hated it, but changing it would be too much work. Not unless he got married, but he wasn’t getting married anytime soon. He preferred “JD” over “Jason” or “Mr. Dean”, but “JD” wasn’t professional enough.  
“...Hello.”  
JD quickly looked around the room. The reporter sat at a table drinking coffee. He relaxed slightly as he remembered that this was just an interview and not an interrogation. JD was half expecting to be pressed for information like in the movies. The interviewer, Miss Kenzie Mariel, had seemed nice enough when they spoke on the phone before. This was their first meeting in person, however, and suddenly JD felt underdressed. She had her hair arranged in carefully placed golden curls and wore formal clothes. On the other hand, he was just wearing casual clothing. Hopefully that wouldn’t change anything.  
After a couple of minutes of greetings and small talk, Kenzie started her tape recorder and began the interview:  
"So, M. Dean. Tell me a bit about yourself."  
JD tried to give his most genuine fake smile. "Oh, there's not much to know. I'm just a guy with a sax and a plan."  
The reporter looked like she wanted more information, but she played along. "What's your plan?"  
"To fight against tyranny and stupid laws." JD shrugged, looking as if that was a good enough answer. The reporter gave a disappointed look- obviously he hasn't been in the lawyer business long enough to know that's not an acceptable answer.  
"...So, were you born in Sherwood, Mr. Dean?"  
"I was born in Idaho, actually." He knew what the next question was, so he answered it before she could ask it. "My family moved around a lot, and when I was 17 I went to Sherwood."  
Kenzie still looked curious. "Why did you move around a lot?"  
Ah, this old tale of his pops. "My dad ran a destruction company- Big Bud Dean's Destruction Company- it used to be huge. You've probably seen the commercials." Or maybe not. Kenzie looked as if she was younger than he was; the commercials might have been gone by the time she was watching TV.  
"Okay. So, when you got to Sherwood, you met Veronica Sawyer, correct? Her parents have said you were her friend."  
Here came the hard part. Talking about Veronica was hard- the feeling of betrayal was still there, but so was the strong love he’d had for her. So, you could say he had mixed feelings.  
"...I guess we were more than friends. We hit it off based on our love of slurpees and hatred of school kids."  
"So, you hated the school too?" Kenzie made a suspicious look, as if maybe anyone who hated the school was in on the plan.  
"Don't get your pants in a twist. Yes, I did, but I think the entire school did. The entire staff did, too."  
"Oh. My apologies. So, you and Veronica were a couple? For how long?"  
That was a dumb question. "Up until the bomb- we had had a few falling-outs before it, though." He bit his lip and looked away. "She was getting a bit aggressive and was ignoring me, ever since Ram and Kurt died."  
"Ram and Kurt- I remember hearing about that, too. It was a double suicide, right? Why would Veronica have cared?"  
"Hell if I know." Was he allowed to curse in an interview? Too late. "I think she just hated them a lot, and when they died it got her thinking."  
The reporter sat up in her seat, eyebrows raised. She leaned in and gave JD a serious look. "Are you implying that Veronica did set the bombs off, Mr. Dean?"  
JD leaned in and gave her an equally serious look. "Look, I'm not gonna confirm anything. Veronica told me about her plan- I almost went along with it, I'm glad I didn't- but she didn't seem so sure about it herself. After that I had stayed at home- I wasn't gonna go that pep rally knowing what she might do- and then I heard what happened."  
"So, you're saying she did it then."  
"No, I'm saying she might have. She seemed very hesitant, maybe someone else did it. Maybe one of the Heathers- they were still there."  
"The Heathers.... one of them committed suicide a couple months before the bombs went off, correct?"  
JD clenched his teeth- he shouldn't have brought up the Heathers. They were the only people he hated as much as Ram and Kurt. He'd say even a little more so, but Ram and Kurt still won. He could go off on a whole tangent about them, but he wasn't going to.  
"Heather Chandler, yeah. Maybe another reason for Veronica to set off the bombs- or maybe a reason for the other two Heathers to set them off."  
"...But they died in the explosion."  
"Could've been suicide, or part of the plan to not get noticed." JD shrugged. The reporter looked kind of frustrated; his proposition had given her more information, but also just made it more confusing. JD smirked.  
After a moment of silence- Kenzie was rather confused now- the reporter looked at JD and asked another question. “You’re accusing Veronica of planting the bombs, but if you loved her so much why are you saying anything? Wouldn’t you rather keep quiet so she doesn’t get accused?”  
JD blinked, his face turning a bit pale. Shit. Kenzie had caught his bluff- he was accusing Veronica, wasn’t he?  
...It was just his old devious nature. He’d tricked himself, hadn’t he? He thought he’d grown out of that over the years, but clearly, he hadn’t. JD frowned and looked down at the table they were sitting at.  
“...do you think it’d be alright if we stopped for a bit? Interviews are supposed to have breaks, right?”  
Kenzie grinned, looking like she’d just won the lottery. Clearly, she hit what she was hoping to. “Mr. Dean, you didn’t answer my question. Answer it, then we can break.”  
JD groaned as he realized that Kenzie had purposefully asked that question to get his goat. His expression changed, from surprised to angry to neutral- he struggled on the third one. This reporter should be fired if she was purposefully trying to rally up her interviewees. Or did all reporters do that?  
They sat in silence for a bit while JD struggled to think of an answer. Why was he struggling? It wasn’t even a hard question, Kenzie had just caught him off guard with it. Finally, he sighed and put on a sorrow-filled face.  
“You’re right. I did care a lot about her… But when she told me her plan it broke my heart. She wasn’t the girl I once knew. I still have the memories of when I loved her, but… I just don’t anymore.”  
The reporter frowned- that wasn’t the answer she had been looking for. “...I suppose that makes sense. We can take a 15-minute break now, if you’d like.”  
\--  
JD sat in the men’s bathroom of the establishment, washing his face with water to snap himself out of the trance Kenzie had put him in. Why had that question caused such a revelation to him? Was it because he still didn’t know the answer himself? Like he’d said before, he still felt betrayed by Veronica… but he still had feelings for her- or at least he remembered the feelings he had for her before she died. It was all in the past now, but it still felt so real.  
By the time the break was over and JD went back to his seat he was fidgeting around more, just wanting to finish the interview and go home now. He looked at Kenzie and gave that fake smile once more.  
“Alright, Mr. Dean. I have just one more question for you.”  
JD nodded.  
“How can you prove your innocence?”  
JD turned pale again, his eyes widening. “Are you accusing me of setting the bombs?”  
“No, I’m just asking you to prove that you didn’t.”  
“This is an interview, not an interrogation!” JD balled up his fists in anger- how dare she accuse him of such a thing? He had already said he didn’t do it!  
“Just answer the question, please, and that will end the interview.”  
JD sighed- he was already antsy enough and already wanted to go home- now he was basically being forced to prove himself innocent. Could he plead the fifth here? This wasn’t a trial, and she wasn’t a policeman- she had no right to do this.  
“Fine. I didn’t do it because I know Veronica did. I saw her go into the boiler room myself.”  
Kenzie stayed still, then nodded slowly. JD raised his eyebrow- was she going to buy that? It wasn’t that he had lied, he had just given a small explanation and he thought she’d want something bigger.  
But no. Kenzie stood up and started packing up her things. “Thank you, Mr. Dean. I’m sure the news will love to hear your side of the story. Good day.”  
JD waved as she left, and then he sighed and looked out the window. He knew no good would come out of this.  
Only later did he realize he’d told Kenzie he hadn’t been at school that day.


End file.
